title: Use of professional profiles in applications for specialist training positions.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The seven roles of the CanMEDS system have been implemented in Danish postgraduate medical training. For each medical specialty, a professional profile describes which elements of the seven roles the specialty deems important for applicants for a specialist training position. We investigated use of professional profiles among the 38 Danish specialty societies in order to ascertain the use of the seven roles.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used information from the websites of the Postgraduate Medical Training Secretariats in March 2012. For each profile, we extracted information on how the seven roles were described, how the roles were ranked by importance, whether a score sheet was used by the appointment committee and whether the profile had been updated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty-four (63%) of the 38 profiles described the contents for all of the seven roles and four (11%) described the contents only for some of the roles. Nine specialties (24%) described a clear ranking of the seven roles with the medical expert and scholar roles generally ranked as most important. Seven specialties (18%) used standardised score sheets as part of the application process. Four (11%) specialties had updated their professional profiles.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The majority of specialties described the seven roles in their professional profiles, but the level of detail varied substantially. Few specialties described whether the roles were ranked by importance or provided specific guidelines for appointment committees on how the contents of the profiles should be interpreted. We suggest that specialties seek inspiration for updating their profiles, and that they use the contents from all specialties provided at a website.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  not relevant.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  not relevant.
authors.affiliation: The Nordic Cochrane Centre, Rigshospitalet, 2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark. al@cochrane.dk
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lundh
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Skjelsager
authors.forename: Kim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wildgaard
mesh_terms: D003718:Denmark; D004503:Education, Medical, Graduate / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D010819:Physician's Role; D012570:School Admission Criteria; D013038:Specialization